Eyes of the Past
by Roazell
Summary: And on the day she met him, for the first time since the Tower of Heaven, everything went to hell. Two-shot about the time Erza met Siegrain at the Magic Council.
1. Chapter 1

It was a nice, sunny day when Erza's past came back to stab her in the back.

After partially destroying the town of Hargeon on her first S-Class mission, 12-year-old Erza Scarlet was forced to stay in the guild hall without going on any jobs for three weeks until the Magic Council responded to the destruction she had caused with a summons. It turned out that because she was so young, all they really wanted was a written apology, to be handed in personally by Erza. In fact, it seemed out that one certain member of the Council pushed this verdict; for apparently he or she wanted to meet the armored wizard.

After waiting inside the guild for so long, and being pestered by Natsu, Gray and Mira, it felt good to just be outside and enjoy the sunshine. Her punishment hadn't even been that severe, and now, on her way to the Magic Council Headquarters with Master Makarov, Erza couldn't've been more at peace.

"Do you have the written apology?" Makarov asked for the fifth time. Erza smiled gently and pulled it out from behind her armor's breastplate.

"I have it here, Master; just like the last five times you've asked," she replied. He hummed in response.

"Say, what did you even write in it?" Makarov asked after a moment, looking up at the redhead.

"Well…." Erza pulled the letter out of the envelope and opened it up. "I said, '_Dear Magic Council: I deeply apologize for the destruction I caused in the town of Hargeon, but I must say that it was necessary in completing my S-Class quest, in case you were not informed. If you would rather have put your money towards stopping the dark guild I obliterated than rebuilding Hargeon, then I, once again, apologize. If this is not the instance, however, then I rest my case. Sincerely yours, Erza Scarlet._"

Makarov sighed. "Dear child, I'm not sure if that's going to help your case very much at all."

"But I was telling the truth," Erza said, glancing over at her Master.

"Well, sometimes it's better to cover your own ass, and the truth along with it," he replied, before glancing up. "Oh, it looks as though we're here."

Up ahead on the dirt road stood two figures, and beyond them stood the Magic Council Headquarters. One was a man as short as Makarov, with thick eyebrows, an orange sweater, and a spikey black hat. The other was taller, presumably a teenage guy, with a hood concealing his face. Even so, Erza could see a peek of blue hair that looked eerily familiar.

"Ah, Council member Yajima," Makarov greeted him politely, giving him a bow before shaking his hand.

"Ah, my old friend Makey. I heard that one of your little Fairies got you in trouble again, and so I volunteered to be the one to collect the apology," Yajima said warmly. "Is this the young lady herself?"

"My name's Erza Scarlet. It's nice to meet you," Erza told him, smiling at the Council member as they shook hands.

"My, you're quite young to be destroying towns, aren't you?" he asked with a laugh. Then his voice turned serious.

"I also heard that you were the last one to see old Rob alive." Erza stiffened at the statement and looked away before nodding.

"He died very bravely," she murmured, willing herself to stay strong as she remembered the old man's death. Yajima watched her for a moment more before nodding graciously.

"And now, might I introduce you to our newest, and youngest ever, Council member. He's about the same age as you, I believe." He stepped aside for the teen beside him, who pulled down his hood at last. "Erza, meet Siegrain Fernandes. I tell you, this boy is incredibly smart and has been a huge help…."

Everything else instantly faded away to background noise, because as soon as Erza laid eyes on his face, this boy Siegrain's face, she saw him. She saw his eyes – sharp, intelligent hazel eyes, with that accursed red tattoo above his right one. She saw his hair, blue and soft, and his smile, cold and devious, the same as the last day she saw him. Erza looked at Siegrain, and all she saw was _him_ – Jellal.

For a moment, Erza was back at the Tower of Heaven; that same scared little girl, with no understanding of the magical power she had just exemplified, and her friends, her _family_, were being threatened by this same boy, with this same face, and this same evil look in his eyes – and for a moment, she couldn't move.

And then suddenly, Erza was in the present, and just as Siegrain – no, _Jellal_, was reaching out to shake her hand, a calculating, false-friendly smile on his face, her blood boiled, and her eyes opened wide, and adrenaline and magic power, fueled by rage, shot through her.

"_JELLAL_!" she screeched, and suddenly Erza was requipping into her newest and most powerful armor, the Black Wing armor, and her two biggest swords were in her hands, and she was swinging at him again and again and nothing else in the world mattered.

Somehow, Jellal calmly kept dodging her, moving back as he did, and when he couldn't, he would throw up magic barriers to stop her attacks. But Erza pressed on, knowing that he couldn't keep going forever. But she knew that she could and that she _would_ – to save her family, and everyone trapped inside the damned Tower of Heaven.

Makarov and Yajima were both yelling in the background, but Erza couldn't hear them, for the only noise in her ears was the sound of blood rushing through her, and the one thought that kept her swords swinging at full capacity.

"I'll _KILL YOU_!" Erza roared, and, summoning her fighting skills, swung her swords down on Jellal, who blocked them; at the same time, she shot her leg out, knocking his legs out from under him. In an instant, she was on top of him, pinning Jellal's arms and legs, with both swords crossed at his throat.

"Release them – _all_ of them," Erza hissed, her hair falling in strands in front of her face. Jellal just stared at her blankly, a mild look of shock on his face.

"What are you talking about?" he asked innocently. Seething with hate, Erza drew back her swords, and was just about to behead her worst nightmare when a booming voice interrupted.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Suddenly, a giant fist wrapped itself around Erza, effectively lifting her up and away from Jellal before she could kill him. Gripping her swords tightly and snarling with fury, she was about to swing at this new enemy – before Erza realized who it was.

"Master," she said weakly, as he lowered her to the ground, putting himself between her and Jellal. Erza fell to her knees, blankly looking at Makarov as he spoke to her, words that didn't reach her ears, Yajima helped Jellal up behind him. Erza sat there until his face came into view again – "_I'm alright_," he said, as if he had his life to fear for in the first place – and suddenly she was in frenzy again.

"He – I'm _gonna_–" she started, lifting her swords, her face murderous, when Makarov held his hand in front of her again, using his Titan magic to swell it up and turn it into an effective wall. Erza looked back at his face desperately.

"Master, _please_, I've got to – he's the one who–"

Behind Makarov, Erza kept her eyes fixed on Jellal as she spoke, and as she did, his eyes met hers.

Slowly, as Yajima wasn't looking, he raised one finger to his lips, his eyes narrowed in cold joy.

Erza sucked in a breath, her eyes filled with fear.

"STOP," Makarov thundered, his eyes narrowed in fury. Hearing this one word from her Master, Erza took a moment to let her blood simmer down and, after a few minutes, requipped her swords away and switched Black Wing with her casual armor. Makarov watched her for a moment before pulling his arm back with a sigh.

"Child. When will you stop giving me heart attacks?" he muttered. Erza looked at him miserably before Yajima walked back up to the two of them.

"That was certainly… interesting. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" he asked, anger sparking in his voice.

"His name isn't Siegrain; it's Jellal," Erza said quietly, biting her tongue even as she spoke this simple fact; for the smallest slip of information concerning Jellal and the Tower would result in one of her family being killed.

Yajima stared at her, unable to comprehend this, when Jellal spoke up.

"Actually, that's not true; my name really is Siegrain. I believe the person you're referring to happens to be my twin brother, Jellal," he said, his smile lacking any happiness.

Erza gasped in shock and disbelief, giving Makarov a chance to speak. "Who is this Jellal fellow you two speak of? Your twin brother, you say?"

"Yes," Jellal – no… Siegrain, answered truthfully. "Jellal and I are identical twins; same hair, same faces – even the same tattoo over our right eyes." He smiled again and nodded graciously. "I must apologize for the miscommunication, Miss Erza. We might look remarkably alike, but I promise you, my brother and I are not the same person."

Erza looked away, conflicted feelings battling for dominance inside her. The only thing she was really aware of was that her fists, tightly clenched at her sides, were shaking furiously.

"See? That's all settled. Now, say a nice apology to Mr. Fernandes unless you want to spend a night in the Council's jail," Makarov said sternly, bowing slightly in hopes that Erza would follow. Slowly, she copied his action, although her face was tense with confliction.

Over the next few minutes, Erza handed over the letter to Yajima, and the three men talked, but none of it seemed to reach her, for her mind was in such a state of shock that she couldn't focus. Jellal had never said anything about having a twin brother – and for that matter, did Siegrain even know who his brother really was, and what he had done?

As Erza came back to reality, she realized that the four of them were walking back the way they came. She remembered something about them offering to walk them to the train station when Siegrain spoke.

"Sorry about confusing you like that. You must've been pretty freaked."

She glanced over at him, narrowing her eyes in confusion. What was his game? First, he claimed to be Jellal's brother, and then, when she was about to tell Makarov about Jellal, he had stopped her. And now, he was _apologizing_?

Suddenly, she was worn out. "It's fine. You just… look exactly like him," she whispered dejectedly, unable to come up with any other response.

"You must be wondering why I stopped you from telling Makarov about the Tower of Heaven."

Erza looked up instantly, her eyes wide, as Siegrain continued. "See, I know all about what my brother is planning, with the resurrection of Zeref; and the Tower of Heaven's completion is necessary for that to happen. So here's the deal: you tell anyone, anything about the Tower, and I'll kill all your friends, and send their bodies to your doorstep. So keep quiet – if you value their lives, that is."

Erza stopped walking, her shoulder shaking as she willed herself not to start crying. He was still doing it after all, then. Jellal was still building the Tower of Heaven. And now, his brother was on the Magic Council, and therefore, he could do whatever he wanted without consequence. Erza had no hope of rescuing her friends now – that much was abundantly clear.

Her fingers itched for a sword bathed in his blood.

Siegrain stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "Hey, you coming, Erza?" he called, loud enough for the two adults to hear.

Makarov turned and, seeing she had stopped, sighed. "Come now, Erza," he called. "Unless you don't want to get back to Magnolia by tonight."

Erza waited a moment more, gathering her courage before looking up. "Yes, I'm coming," she called, jogging to catch up with the others.

**Huh. Well, I didn't expect this to get much attention tbh. It's not my first fanfiction (far from it) but it's my first one posted online. So take that however you want, but if people actually enjoy it, then I'll post the next chapter in a few days or so, and maybe even post another one-shot for Fairy Tail I did a few weeks back. Maybe. We'll see.**

**In the meantime, enjoy this, and if it gets a few reviews or something then I'll post the next chapter sooner. That's all, kids.**

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	2. Chapter 2

It was late afternoon by the time Erza and the Master made it back to the guild hall. During the train ride back, Makarov had asked her questions about her sudden bloodlust and desire to kill Siegrain. Knowing that she couldn't answer truthfully, Erza simply told him that Jellal had once hurt her, and that she had mistaken Siegrain for his brother, and that it was all a misunderstanding. Makarov hadn't seemed satisfied, but he left her alone, sensing that she wanted time by herself. Their walk through Magnolia had been just as silent.

"Hey, look who made it back," Mira jeered as she saw Makarov and Erza walking into the guild hall. "I'm surprised she didn't try to destroy the Magic Council's headquarters and get jailed."

"Mira, be nice," Lisanna scolded, giving Erza a nervous look as she walked past them. Lucky for the Strauss sisters, the redhead was completely ignoring them, her face shadowed.

"So did they put you on trial?" Natsu asked excitedly, walking up to Erza with a wide grin on his face. "What was the Council like?"

An image of Siegrain shot through her head and Erza stopped in her tracks.

The other young kids of Fairy Tail watched her in slight confusion. "Hey Erza?" Cana called. "You okay?"

Erza was quiet, and continued her silence as she spun on her heel and marched straight back out the door, her guildmates watching her go.

"Geez, what's up with her?" Natsu muttered, crossing his arms indignantly and wandering off, most likely to start a fight.

Mira smirked at the door. "Whatever," she snorted. "If she just wants to go mope around because the Council scolded her then no one's stopping her."

"Since when did you care so much?" Lisanna muttered. As the sisters started debating, their brother cautiously trying to break them up, Gray stared after Erza, wondering what on earth could silence the redheaded swordswoman.

**FT**

After walking for five straight minutes, Erza finally arrived to her destination; the riverbank outside the guild hall. Sitting down on the riverbank, she pulled the sword out of the sheath that was always at her side. Erza could see her reflection in the smooth metal, illuminated by the sunset behind her – and was not at all surprised to see tears welling up in her left eye.

Wiping them away shakily with the back of her hand, Erza took the sword and calmly plunged it into the soil in front of her. Then, no longer able to hold herself together, she wrapped both trembling hands around its handle and let the tears flow from her eye, her shoulder shaking as she tried to suppress a sob and failed.

The shock of seeing Siegrain, and all of those terrible memories coming back, and learning that her friends were still in that wretched Tower of Heaven, still suffering, because of _her_ cowardice, made her sick. Gasping, Erza clutched her sword harder, her fingers tightening to the point of breaking.

Their faces wouldn't stop flowing through her head. Simon, who had always been so kind to her. Shou, oh, poor Shou… him and Milliana were so young, and so scared… both the two of them and Wally had been so brave, especially in their situation. And Grandpa Rob, who sacrificed himself to save Erza from being blasted into oblivion, the last sight of him being the Fairy Tail mark on his back….

And then there was him… Jellal. Just thinking about that name made Erza miserable, and guilty, and a whole slew of other emotions that she didn't even know the names of. Jellal had most likely been what she could've called her best friend; staying by her side, comforting her, giving her a name when she didn't have one, even holding a rebellion to rescue her from the hellish torture the followers of Zeref inflicted. Jellal had been the one person to make everything right in her life.

And then… he was gone. Sure, Jellal remain in body, but his mind had gone away to other places – dark places. Places she didn't even know existed, places he might be out of reach, incapable of being rescued. Erza no longer had hope of helping him.

After so long away from the Tower, Erza had always thought about what she would do if she even went back and confronted Jellal. And, despite being caught off guard at his – or rather, his brother's – appearance at the Magic Council, she had followed through directly with her plan: to attack relentlessly until Jellal was dead. And okay, even if she had been stopped by Makarov, when they were walking to the train she could have requipped one of her swords out and attacked him, couldn't she? But that wasn't the issue. It wasn't that Erza hadn't thought of it. It was that she couldn't kill the boy she had loved, as a brother and a best friend and so many other things – even if it meant her family had to continue suffering.

Erza couldn't believe her own weakness. She had left the Tower, and she had left them; she left her friends, her family, her _nakama_, and Jellal was probably hurting them, working them, torturing them, he could even kill them without a second thought if he wanted to and she just – she couldn't–

"Erza?"

She froze as her name was called out and, straightening out her shoulders, turned to face the speaker.

"What do you want, Gray?" Erza muttered, trying to keep her voice from shaking and failing.

Gray frowned as she faced him. "You're crying," he stated, looking vaguely shocked.

Erza sniffed irritably and wiped her eye on the back of her hand. "Yeah, I noticed, thanks," she said bitterly. Gray watched her for a moment more before walking cautiously down the slope to join her at the riverbank.

"So what's the matter with you?" he asked bluntly. Erza turned away and narrowed her eyes at the water.

"It's nothing. I'll be fine," she mumbled stiffly, not wanting to talk about her feeling with Gray of all people. He was a good friend, but from the way he talked with and treated the other people at the guild, Erza could tell that the stripping ice wizard had almost zero perception of other people's feelings.

Gray snorted. "No way," he said. "You're one of the toughest wizards in Fairy Tail, and when I find you crying next to a river, you want me to believe that you're just fine? That's a load of crap."

She glared at him coldly. "Gray, you don't–"

"Was it the Magic Council?" Gray pressed on, not willing to let up. "You know, with one word you could sic Natsu on them like a rabid dog and their headquarters would be brought to the ground."

"No, that's not–"

"Was it that new member people were talking about? Or did Mira say something? Or–"

"_Gray_!"

The boy stopped, blinking before resuming his usual bored expression. "Okay, fine. I'm going. Don't fall into the river or something."

As he turned to leave, Erza suddenly felt a pang of regret. She sure didn't need someone to talk to about her feelings – although it wasn't like she could say much anyways – but what the armored wizard could use was someone to lean on.

Her hand shot out and grabbed Gray's arm.

"Wait." The ice wizard stopped, turning to face her with a doubtful look.

Erza looked at the ground. "Would you just… stay here? With me? Please?"

A blush crept across the boy's face, and he frowned before stepping back over and sitting down next to her.

"Happy?" he asked, glancing over at her.

Erza smiled lightly, her tears finally stopping as she pulled her sword from the ground and placed it next to her. "Yeah."

_I might not be strong enough to face him now, but someday… someday, I'll save you; my family._

_Jellal, Siegrain, your days are numbered. Keep a close eye out, or else you might miss the day my sword is bathed in your bloods._

There was a beautiful sunset on the day Erza came to realize that her friends would always be there for her. She would know; she watched it set with one of them.

**Well, that's that. I hope y'all enjoy this last chapter; since Gray was the first one to catch Erza crying all by herself over the whole Tower thing, and because I just love their friendship and his little crush on her when they were young, that's what I decided to include in the last chapter.**

**The whole monologue Erza had in her thoughts wasn't the best I've ever written, and got off topic a few times, but I think it got the message through in the end. It's not as if I can judge my own piece properly; you guys just tell me if anything's wrong with it, and I'll fix it.**

**So, wrapping this up, I'll prolly write some more fanfics for this account in the future, provided this one gets some more attention. I don't usually write fanfics to be posted or anything, but if I decide to, some more will be put up eventually.**

**So like, review, all that stuff; tell me what you like and didn't like and what I should improve on, and hopefully in the future, you'll read from me again. That's all, kids.**

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